


View from the Clouds

by witchbreaker



Series: The Grass Chunin Exams [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Dreaming of Sunshine spin off, fanfiception
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 17:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4796444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchbreaker/pseuds/witchbreaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Netsui had high hopes when she was chosen to team up with Killer B's students for the Grass Chunin Exams. She was sure that her team would win the whole thing. She should have paid a little bit more attention to a certain shadow.</p><p>Based on Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	View from the Clouds

The girl is one of the first kunoichi on Netsui’s radar. The entrance Leaf and Sand make into the mess hall is not bad. Their numbers are tiny compared to what her Village has sent. Not that it matters in Sand’s case since they sent their jinchuriki. 

“He’s going to win.” Omoi said, depressed. Karui rolls her eyes. 

“Will you get a grip? The Exam hasn’t even started yet.” 

“Just because he’s a Host doesn’t mean he’s invincible.” Netsui is honored to be teamed up with Killer B’s students for this exam but Omoi drives her up a wall. He worries way too much. Besides, Sand’s jinchuriki can’t be that powerful if Hidden Leaf was able to beat him without a Host of their own. 

“He’s going to win and then Sand is going to revamp their forces and start another Shinobi War.” Karui punches him in the shoulder. 

“Shut up and focus on the Exam!” Omoi does as he’s told but sulks for the rest of the meal. Netsui can _see_ him going over the worst possible outcomes in his head. 

The next team to enter the mess hall is a Mist team. They are different from what she was expecting. They look soft and young. Two of them can’t be more then eight and the rest are around their age. She doesn’t get to look at them long because a Leaf kunoichi hurries up to them and wraps herself around the oldest. A teammate who followed her and shakes the Mist ninja’s hand once she lets go like they aren’t enemies, like they are both wear the same symbol on their forehead protector. 

Their words are just loud enough to reach everyone in the mess hall and if this wasn’t preplanned Netsui will eat her sword. The Mist Ninja, Haku’s, voice practically screams ‘I am dropping information’. 

The kunoichi, Netsui doesn’t hear her name, takes the new team to her table and introduces them. Gaara of the Desert actually stands up and _bows_ to them because they know those two Leaf ninja. Haku returns the favor which makes the kunoichi happy as the rest of the ninja shuffle to make room for everyone. 

Then comes something that Netsui can’t even explain. After the Leaf kunoichi acts as a shill for Haku again the sixteen people at that table decide to declare their friendship with a handshake. Complete with fist bump. If she hadn’t seen it, she wouldn’t have believed it. Leaf, Sand, _and_ Mist teaming up? Swearing an alliance? Okay, so it was Genin but this couldn’t possibly be coming from just them. Their Kages must have been planning this for awhile. 

“This isn’t good.” Omoi mutters. Neither her nor Karui disagree. An actual alliance between the Great Hidden Villages hadn’t happened since the last Shinobi War. Netsui takes a closer look at the kunoichi that conducted the scene. Her dark hair is in a braid that stretches to the middle of her back. A black jacket covers her and there’s a pouch for kunai and other supplies strapped to her thigh on the right hand side. She’s also half sitting in one of the boy ninja’s laps looking pleased with herself. Netsui can’t see any clan symbols but her Leaf forehead protector is visible on her arm. 

_Infiltration._ Netsui decides when she wonders about the girl’s specialty then she spits to the side. She’s just another kunoichi who survives by manipulating men into protecting her. The boys are hanging onto her every word while the girls all let her guide the discussion. She won’t be a problem. Not in the Chunin Exams where ambush and seduction won’t get you far. There’s a reason that the Hidden Villages pull their strongest for these fights. Netsui goes back to her food. Fighting on an empty stomach is a problem she won’t be having. 

(X)

The First Exam sucks. Far too much running around and gathering useless items. They pass about seven hours after the whole thing started. That’s due to the Omoi rather than her or Karui. Netsui will fully admit that she’s not the best tracker. She doesn’t care. She’s a frontline fighter and that’s all that matters. 

The Second Exam is much better. A straight up fight complete with time clock. They get the needed cards within five hours. They stick around for a little while longer to take out a few more teams before making it back to the starting point by two. As they sit in their own section of the field, they don’t talk about the fights. They would have if Netsui had anything say, but Omoi derails the conversation before she can even try. 

“Leaf lent Sand a shinobi for the Second Exam.” Netsui grumbles about that. Sand had only sent one team so this Exam should have disqualified them. She’s not afraid of Gaara of the Desert but nobody would say that they _want_ to fight him in the Finals. Karui strains her neck to look at the Leaf-Sand-Mist alliance. They’ve all made it and are waiting for the end of the Second Exam near each other but clearly in their own Village groups. 

“Who?” Akantai asks. 

“The girl with the braid.” Netsui feels annoyance bubble up inside her. The kunoichi might as well have gotten a pass for this part of the Exam. 

“It doesn’t matter.” She says. 

“Kumo doesn’t have that many teams left. If we lose here, we’ll look weak and if we look weak then people will go to Leaf for missions and that will make us weak and then we’ll have to do something big to seem not weak and then B-sensei will be called out more often and will have to go against Rock’s jinchuriki and he’ll lose which will make A-sama go on a rampage and–“

“For godsake, that doesn’t even make sense!” Karui shouted as she cut him off. The two argue until the preliminary Third Exam take place. Then they come together and get all four of their team members into the Finals. Besides Mist and Leaf, they have the most people in the tournament. Not that those Villages numbers matter. As far as Netsui is concerned, the only real stop in their way from claiming the whole thing is Sand’s jinchuriki. They will figure out a way around him. It’s not like Kumo hasn’t handled jinchuriki’s before. 

(X)

Things turn out to be a little more complicated then that. First round of Day One, Omoi looses to the jinchuriki’s sister. It’s a great match, but a loss is still a loss. Karui wins her match and soon enough it’s Netsui’s turn. She sees her opponent enter the pitch. It’s the Leaf kunoichi. She’s looking confident. Well, time to rip that to shreds. 

“Kunoichi like you make me sick.” She growls low and threateningly. The girl startles. 

“Excuse me?” Netsui pounces on the sign of weakness. 

“You heard me.” She pitches her voice so that everyone can hear. “You come into an exam like this and spend the entire time hiding behind men. We all saw you in the dining hall. And then you got carried through the Second Exam. Well, you’re out of luck here; it’s just you and me now. There’s no one here to protect you.” 

“Right.” The girl says, clearly off kilter. She smirks and goes in for the kill. 

“Kunoichi who depends on others shouldn’t be allowed. It’s so…. Weak.” That actually seems to make the girl angry. Good. The Leaf ninja signals the referee who starts the match. Netsui lunges forward at high speed, ready to end this match before the girl can even defend herself. Then Netsui is 

Completely

Humiliated.

There aren’t words to describe her fury and shame at her loss. She sits in the stands with her team only because they have been forbidden to be alone. No one will look at her and it is both a blessing and a condemnation. Netsui has brought shame to Kumo. She underestimated her opponent and their reputation has suffered because of it. Forget being promoted, she’ll be lucky if she sent on anything besides a D-rank ever again. As soon as the matches are done she vanishes back to their lodgings. Nobody comes into the room that three teams are suppose to be sharing until well past dinner. 

It’s Omoi and Karui and he tosses a book at her that she grabs out of reflex. It’s a betting book, one listing the odds for each shinobi winning tournament. Netsui flips to Shikako Nara’s page. 

“Bullshit!” She declares, chucking the book back at him. “There’s no way she’s done that many missions.” 

“It’s accurate,” he says. “All our numbers are right.”

“S-Rank?! All those A-Ranks?! No way.” Netsui refuses to believe that that little bitch could possibly that strong. “It’s made up.” 

“There’s no reason for Leaf to inflate missions scores like that.” 

“She’s covering for someone else. Their using her to draw attention away from their other entrees.” 

“They are good, but not enough to need that amount of distraction.” 

“The Uchiha hasn’t had a serious fight yet. Just you wait.” She then turns over and ignores them. They leave without other word. 

(X)

Netsui glares at Shikako as soon as she enters the pitch. 

_I’m going to kill you._ She thinks. _One day, I’m going to cut off your fucking head._

Her mood isn’t helped by Karui loosing to Gaara in the first match. Three Kumo ninjas are out and Akantai isn’t the best of them. During Shikako’s match, she cheers for the Grass ninja. It’s pretty pathetic all around and Muku ends up loosing because he doesn’t have the balls to kill the girl when it became clear that she had avoided his jutsu. 

Akantai then looses and takes Kumo out of the running. The mood around everyone is shit. Leaf still has six shinobi in the running. While Sand has their jinchuriki and Mist their obviously under-ranked Haku, Leaf has dominated this Exam in every way that matters. Cloud will be a footnote at best. 

Some teams go out that night to have some fun before they have to go home. Those who make it into the tournament stay behind. There’s going to be no fun for them. Not with their failures weighing them down. 

(X)

There’s no one to really cheer for when Shikako faces off against Gaara of the Desert. Their alliance has been shown off too much for the jinchuriki to actually hurt her and a friendly spar isn’t what Netsui wants to see. 

That’s not what she gets either way. 

The Nara is covered in scrolls when she walks onto the pitch. There’s one on her back that is almost as big as she is and a dozen or so slung across her chest. Netsui thinks they are holding weapons just like the last Leaf kunoichi. 

She’s only part right. 

“Sealing Style: Earth Style: City of Pillars!” 

Ink spreads from the base of the scroll across the pitch of the field. From there the whole ground shakes as stone columns pierce the sky. A shiver goes down her spine as the complete reconfiguration of the battlefield seems to be only Shikako’s opening act. Explosions rock the ground, the ninja speeds around as the kunoichi proves that she was far faster than any Genin had any right to be. 

Then she pulls out of the Sword of the Thunder God and, while Netsui is indignant that such a weapon is in the hands of a complete novice, Shikako Nara is flings A-Rank lightning jutsus at Gaara of the Desert like they were candy. 

The two fight back and forth as the crowd cheers loudly. Netsui thinks about her thirst for revenge and watches as Shikako succeeds for a third time in disabling the jinchuriki’s greatest weapon. She breaks out in a cold sweat when the kunoichi decides to explode the entire arena. 

_I wouldn’t survive that._ There’s no way she _could_ survive that. She’s not sure anyone but B-sama, Yugito-sama, and the Raikage-sama could survive that. It finally sinks in that Shikako had been holding back when they fought. 

No, she hadn’t even been trying. 

Netsui swallows. Her family had taught her to value her heritage, to know that patience was the best weapon when it came to revenge. They also taught her that survival is important above all else. The dead can’t get revenge. 

She watches as the match comes ends with Sand’s victory and thinks that if Shikako had been in a real fight with Gaara of the Desert, she would have won. With that thought she knows that she will never get revenge on Shikako Nara. It would be like trying to get revenge on a thunderstorm. All that one will get will to be struck down. Reduced to a scorch mark on the side of the mountain. 

Kumo’s seating is silent as the rest of the stands go nuts. Shikako Nara is not a strong Genin, she is _dangerous._ The kind that no one wants to face on the battlefield. Netsui hopes that she dies soon because if this is what she is like barely a year after graduating, she doesn’t want to see how powerful she is when she reaches her full potential.

**Author's Note:**

> Because I'm obsessed and Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen is awesome. Netsui's point of view of Shikako's progress through the Chunin Exams. 
> 
> Yes, this is a fanfic of a fanfic.


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